Pivoted outer jaw wrench having fulcrum detent quickly shiftable along handle rack



March 22, 1949. N, w WARMAN 2,464,953

PIVOTEI) OUTER-JAW WRENCH HAVING, FULCRUM DETENT QUICKLY SHIFTABLE ALONGHANDLE-RACK Filed Feb. 27, 1946 I NczZ'ka/zWW a/wzau lfatented Mar. 22,1949 PIVOTED OUTER JAW WRENCH.v HAVING FULCRUM DETENT QUICKLY SHIP-TABLEALONG HANDLE RACK Nathan W. Warman, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application February 27, 19.46, Serial No. 650,488

I 1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to a wrench, and while features of the inventionare applicable in the construction of a wrench for rotating a nut or abolt head, the invention is particularly applicable in the constructionof a wrench for gripping a round object such as a pipe, that is to say,to perform the function of a wrench of a type popularly known as aStillson wrench.

An object of the invention is to attain the objects indicated above, bya construction which will enable the relatively movable jaw of thewrench to be quickly brought to a position to grasp the round object orpipe, by a Very simple operation readily performed while the wrench isheld in its operatcrs hands.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wrench of this type inwhich the wrench will tighten itself automatically through the action ofthe torque force being applied to the handle or lever of the wrench, andwhich will automatically loosen itself when the force is reversed, as itwould be when the wrench was being rotated back into a new position toenable the jaws to take a new grip on a pipe or other round object thatis being rotated against a resistance.

Another object of the invention is to produce a wrench capable offunctioning as described, but

which is constructed of few parts of simple form,

which can be very economically manufactured wrench.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel parts and combinations of parts tobe described hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce anefiicient wrench.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the followingspecification, while the broad scope of the invention is pointed out inthe appended claim.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view in elevation, taken partly in section on the line ofFig. 2, and shows a longitudinal section through the wrench head andthrough a pipe to which the wrench is illustrated as applied, themovable jaw and the handle carrying the same, being indicated in sideelevation with the outer portion of the handle broken away.

Fi 2 is a plan of the wrench shown in Fig. 1, the outer portion of thehandle being broken away.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but with the outer portion of theshank of the handle broken away. This view shows the wrench in 2.released position in which the shank of the wrench is disconnected froma cooperating party to permit the movable jaw and its shank to be movedreadily toward or fromthe relatively fixed jaw of the wrench.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 3, the wrench preferably includes. a wrenchhead I which preferably has substantially the form indicated, that is tosay, the wrench head presents a throat 2 opening into it from one side,and this throat is formedbetween a relatively fixed outer leg portion,or jaw 3 and a guide extension 4 which operates as a guide for therelatively movable jaw of the wrench. The movable jaw 5 that cooperateswith a serrated face 6 of 'the movable jaw, is preferably formed as theend face of the shank 1 of a handle or lever 8 to which the force isapplied in order to enable the movable jaw 5. to clampan object such asa pipe 9 between the two laws. This jaw 5 is preferably formed as aserrated face disposed in a plane that is inclined to the longitudinalaxis of the shank I. In accord* ance with my invention, this jaw and theshank 1 are guided on the guide extension to enable the shank 1 tubeshoved inwardly so as to approach the relatively fixed jaw 3, and alsoin accordance with my invention I provide means associated with theguide extension 4 to resist a backward movement of the shank 1 after thelaw 5 has been brought into contact with the object such as the pipe 9that is to be rotated. In order to accomplish this, I prefer to form theextension '4 with, a deep slot it that extends into the same from itsouter end and throughout its entire length, the inner end of the slot Itbeing extended intothe neck H that operates to connect the fixed jaw 3,integrally to the guide extension 4. Thi slot I0 is of uniform width ofcourse, and the side faces between which the slot is formed, restagainst the side faces of the shank 1. This shank is of rectan ularcross-section.

By reason of the presence of the slot ill, of course the inner leg orextension 4 is formed into two forks 52 of plate-like form, and betweenthese forks and in the slot it, I provide means for engaging theadjacent edge of the shank 7. In the present instance, this meansconsists of a burr or block 13, and this burr and the adjacent side ofthe shank I have a correlated form which enables the burr to resistoutward thrust in the shank when these parts are in engagement with eachother. In the present instance, I form rack teeth 14 along the outeredge of the shank 1, and I employ a burr l3 of substantially semi- 3circular form but presenting a serrated edge formed with transverserack-teeth of the same pitch and size as the rack-teeth l4. These teethI4 and the teeth of the serrated edge I5 have the form of ratchet teeth,that is to say, each tooth presents an inclined face l6 inclined withrespect to the direction in which the line of teeth extend, the otheredge I! of each tooth being at right angles to the edge along which theteeth extend. In this way, these faces I! present abrupt shoulders toengage each other so as to resist movement of the shank 1 away from thejaw 3 when the teeth of the shank are in engagement with the teeth ofthe burr. However, by reason of the fact that the engaging teeth areinclined, it will be evident that the shank I can readily be movedinwardly because the inclined faces of the teeth will simply slidefreely over each other. By reason of this fact, the jaw 5 can be readilyshoved forward to engage the side of the pipe 9, as indicated in Fig. 1.When in this position, it will be evident that if a force is applied atthe point indicated by the arrow I8 to pull the handle 8 forwardly, thejaw 5 will grip the pipe 9 and press it forcibly against the face of thejaw 3. However, as soon as this force acting on the point [8 isreversed, the jaw 5 will loosen up its grip and the handle then can beswung back or upwardly as viewed in Fig. 1, to bring it to a newstarting position, whereupon by a second movement in the directionindicated by the arrow at l8, the jaws will tighten up again and thepipe 9 can be rotated through another angle of rotation. In this way, aratchet movement can be developed in using this wrench, that isdesirable.

The burr I3 is mounted to rock on an axis on the extension 4, and forthis purpose I prefer to provide a transverse pivot pin or bolt l9 thatpasses through the burr, and has its ends secured in the side plates orforks I2 of the head.

The wrench is preferably provided with means for yieldingly pressing theshank 1 toward the burr [3 so that the teeth of the shank and the burrare normally maintained in engagement with each other. However, asillustrated in Fig. 3, by moving the shank 1 toward the neck ll of thewrench head, the engaging teeth can be disengaged from each other. Thismovement is resorted to whenever it is necessary to free the extension 1with its movable jaw 5 to permit the jaw 5 to be opened up to receive apipe of larger diameter. For this purpose I prefer to provide a coilspring mounted in the slot l0, and the coil of this spring can be veryreadily mounted on a transverse bolt or machine screw 2!, the forwardend of which is provided with screw threads, and the outer end of whichis provided with a screwdriver notch for tightening up the threads. Thisis illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. This spring 20 has abifurcated tongue 22 to thrust against the rear edge or rear side 23 ofthe shank, and the spring is provided with a tail 24 that thrustsagainst an inclined face 25 4 that forms the bottom of the slot It) inthe neck II. In order to prevent the shank I from being pulledaccidentally out of the slot I0, I prefer to provide a small transversedrilled hole near the end of the shank I to receive a small split pin 28as indicated in Fig. 1.

It will be evident that this wrench head I can be very readilyconstructed of hard steel or alloy metal which will insure that theteeth of the jaw 3 will resist the very high pressure that is developedwhen the lever 8 of the wrench is pulled in the direction to tighten thejaws. The shank 1 and its jaw 5, of course should be constructed of hardsteel or alloy metal for the same purpose.

Many other embodiments of the invention may :be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

In a wrench, the combination of an integral U- shaped wrench head havinginner and outer leg portions and a connecting web portion, a rigid jawon said outer leg portion, a continuous longitudinal guide slot in saidhead extending from the free end of said inner leg portion to its otherend and into said connecting web portion, a detent block mounted withinsaid slot adjacent the free end of said inner leg portion, a handle witha shank having front and rear sides, and two flat sides for guidedmovement in said slot, said shank having an end face forming a jawsurface confronting said rigid jaw to cooperate with the same to clampan object therebetween, a pin extending across said slot near the freeend of said inner leg portion and pivotally mounting said detent blocktherein to rock on an axis normal to the plane of said U-shaped head,said detent block having rack-teeth formed on the side thereof adjacentsaid front side of the shank, said front side of the shank havingcorresponding rack-teeth to engage the rack-teeth of the block, a pinextending across the web portion of said slot beyond the rear side ofsaid shank, and a spring mounted on said last named pin and exertingpressure on said shank to urge the same toward the block; the webportion of said guide slot providing an unobstructed space back of saidshank permitting said shank to be moved :back at all times to disengageits teeth from said detent block.

NATHAN W. WARMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 554,157 Watson Feb. 4, 1896560,220 Klose May 19, 1896 1,243,210 Parmenter Oct. 16, 1917 1,464,287Margason Aug. 7, 1923

